AUTHOR'S NOTE: Something new! So glad to be writing again, and this little story came to me. Right now it's looking like it's going to be about 3 chapters. This is AU...no wrestling or anything related to it, just two friends finding something special with a little bit of smut thrown in 😉 Enjoy!

...

He'd thought of Bayley as a friend of his for a good while now. They had a lot of mutual friends and worked out at the same gym, and at some point after they'd been introduced more than a year ago they'd formed a bond. The initial friend-of-a-friend, polite small talk had developed into deeper conversations, phone numbers had been exchanged, and coincidental meetings had turned into semi-regularly hanging out with each other.

It was completely platonic. When they'd met they were both dating someone and while both had gone through subsequent break-ups and dating since, it had never even occurred to him to think of her as a potential partner, and by that point in time he'd become used to thinking of her as just a friend.

She was fun to be around. They had a few things in common, but they also were very different. They had different tastes in books and movies and music, so you'd think they would find it hard to agree on what to do, but just the opposite had been true. They were both adventurous enough to try new things and willing to give and take, and he'd found himself branching out in ways he'd never expected with her. He really wasn't into her favorite kind of music, but she loved music in general and they went to a lot of music festivals and soon he was discovering new music that he did like. He'd also had a lot of fun riding bikes and hiking trails and looking for art with her.

He'd even let her in on his hobby, and she was probably the only girl he'd ever met who'd thought it was cool. They'd sit around at his apartment and watch old movies or listen to music while building with legos every once in a while, and he loved it. Still, she was just Bayley-fun, loyal and sweet, but nothing out of the ordinary-so he was blindsided the first time he'd looked at her and suddenly had the urge to kiss her. He'd been bewildered by it, especially because it had been so strong and so fast. She'd been just Bayley one moment and the next he wanted her so much he could taste it, and he hadn't been able to get her out of his thoughts ever since. He'd even avoided her for a little while until he realized he was hurting her and then he didn't have the heart to stay away.

He'd learned instead to be very careful. He tried avoiding situations that made any of their outings feel like a date, and he tried as much as could not to think of her that way, though that was a lot easier said than done. She wasn't the kind of girl who would flaunt her assets, but it didn't matter. Even modest clothing didn't hide her full curving figure. She was ample in all of the places a woman was supposed to be while still keeping lean and fit, and it was hard to ignore. He refused to go to the gym with her. He knew it would only make it even more difficult on himself considering how little workout gear left to the imagination, and he avoided any situations that involved her in tight or revealing clothing. Which is why he was still baffled by how he'd gotten himself into this situation.

Earlier that week he'd told her he would stop by her work and bring her some food after he'd found out she'd overslept and missed breakfast. While he was there he'd inadvertently found himself agreeing to attend her coworkers party that weekend. He'd remembered Bayley telling him a few days before about having to go even though she didn't really want to because she wasn't really friends with most of the people who would be there. He knew she felt obligated to attend because her friend Megan who was hosting the party had been really nice to her and was trying to make sure she was included.

When Bayley introduced him while he was there Megan had insisted he come along too and he hadn't known how to refuse without being rude. Still maybe it wouldn't have been that bad, even if it was a little too date-like. He could keep her company since it had sounded like she thought she would be lonely there, and maybe he would even enjoy himself. That was until he found out it was also a pool party, and there would be alcohol involved. Bayley told him that Megan had insisted she stay in the guest room, and that he could ride there with her and just take a cab home.

He considered backing out several times, but never went through with it, so that Saturday Bayley picked him up wearing a thankfully modest cover up and they drove to her friends house. She introduced him to the people she knew, most of whom were her coworkers and in spite of his anxiety about it he managed to have a good time for awhile. They drank some of the punch which had been liberally spiked and the alcohol made them both giggly and loose. Some of the people they met were pretty cool, though there were a few women who kept trying to interrupt them. He was confused why they were being so rude and oblivious, but he was also drunk enough that he wasn't really paying attention. He was too distracted by Bayley laughing in the sun, the breeze lightly blowing through her hair and ruffling the flowy skirt on her white cover-up.

Neither were prepared for what happened when a tall blonde started toward them. He recognized her as one of the group that had been bothering them when she was approaching, but he could not have predicted that she would inexplicably throw the contents of her cup at Bayley. It instantly shocked everyone, the entire party going quiet and turning toward them. Bayley stood there looking miserable dripping in sticky red liquid, streaks of red morbidly stark against her white dress. For a moment time seem to stand still then everyone was talking all at once. He could hear the voice of their host berating and yelling at the girl who'd done it, but his eyes never left Bayley. She was clenching her fists at her sides, her face scrunched up like she was trying not to cry. He'd been standing close to her and had caught some of the collateral splatter, but he barely noticed.

He stepped forward, cupping her elbow and guiding her into the house. She was dripping a trail of red behind them, but he didn't worry about it, his priority was to take care of her. They'd stored their things earlier in the guest room that thankfully also had it's own bathroom and he guided her there as quickly as he could. As soon as he closed the bedroom door behind them she started crying. He continued their path until they were standing in front of the shower, and he reached in and turned it on, but when he went to help her with the cover-up he froze.

She was still crying, still drenched in red punch, but still so beautiful, and it hit him like a ton of bricks that he'd been about to undress her. And even if she was wearing a bathing suit underneath he instinctively knew that was a bad idea. He couldn't just stand there staring at her crying though, but he wasn't sure what to do. When he placed his hand on the back of her shoulder she collapsed against his chest, so he did his best to comfort her.

He shushed her gently and wrapped his arms around her. For a while her cries were incoherent, but eventually she calmed down enough he could understand what she was saying,

"I'm so...rry," she said hiccuping in the middle.

"What are you sorry for love, this isn't your fault."

"For getting all weepy over it...I just I didn't want to come you know, but then when you said you would come I was actually looking forward to it, and I even went shopping with Sasha and bought the stupid white dress, even though I never wear white because I just know something is going to happen to it, but Sasha talked me into it, and I felt so pretty and we were having a good time, and that stupid bitch ruined it, and I don't even know why she did it and..." at this point it sounded like she was going to need some air before she passed out, so he interrupted her,

"Hey now breath, I'm glad I helped, that's why I said I would come in the first place, and you did look pretty, still do in fact but you're probably not very comfortable right now, so how about we get you cleaned up, okay?"

"Okay," she replied the slight slur at the end reminding him that they were both still a little drunk and now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he could feel it again. She started to step in the shower even though she still had the ruined dress on, and he wasn't going to stop her except her foot slipped and she would have went down hard if he hadn't caught her. Suddenly he had an armful of laughing Bayley, and this felt far too good, but the laughter was what he tried to focus on. Laughter was good, right? She wasn't sobbing anymore, even if it was slightly hysterical.

"No more mystery punch for Bayley," she singsonged and he couldn't help but smile. She was laughing and hiccuping when she snorted, which only made her laugh harder before she finally calmed down some and looked directly at him, her voice much more solemn she said,

"I think I need help."

"I'm right here."

"Can you help me get this thing off of me please?" Shit, not what he wanted to do, but he wasn't going to turn her down. He reached around to untie the ties at the back of her neck, fully aware of her big brown eyes focused on him the whole time, praying that he was going to make it through this without embarrassing himself. Once the ties were free, he reached down to help pull the fabric up and over her head.

Damn the bathing suit was white too, starkly contrasting against her warm, tan skin and not modest in the least. It was all strings and triangles and thin enough that he knew if he'd seen her in it wet he would have died. Pink tinged her cheeks and she ducked her eyes towards the ground as she she said thank you. It was enough to distract him for a moment until she tried to move again and swayed ominously. He went to catch her but she insisted she was okay.

There was no way he could leave her to step on a wet floor and keep her balance all by herself right now and he knew it. He was just delaying the inevitable, but also fighting his own self control. There was only so much he could take and he'd been pushed well beyond his limits. She very carefully stepped in, still in the bathing suit, though that wasn't much help especially because after only a minute it was soaked through. She managed to not fall, but she was also holding onto the wall for dear life and a half a second later he realized the same thing she did, she asked,

"Um I think I might need help with my hair, can you...um, can you wash it for me?"

He didn't even say anything just reached for the shampoo. Of course once he started putting the soap in her hair he realized just how difficult it was to do so while standing outside of the shower. When she shivered from the draft that was brought on by the gaping hole in the curtain, she turned to look at him and realized what he was doing and how ridiculous it was. He was in swim trunks anyway, so he pulled off the ruined t-shirt and stepped in with her, closing the curtain behind him so there wouldn't be any more drafts.